When the snow stops falling
by Lucy full of loooove
Summary: During the Christmas holidays, the Matthews and the Harts decide to rent a cabin in the mountains to enjoy their winter time together. Unfortunately for them, an unwanted guest decides to join the party, and turn their vacation into a real nightmare...
1. Chapter 1

**WARNING ! This story contains violent themes and coarse language.**

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Chapter 1 . Close the windows

The door opened on a quiet, cosy living-room. The woody smell quickly came across their faces, smacking them with the old, yet welcoming scent. Riley could already picture them near the fireplace, enjoying a nice hot chocolate while telling stories. Or just sitting there, watching the flames creeping higher, doing nothing.

They entered. Cory put down his burden of a suitcase, finally able to move his aching fingers. Gosh, it was like they got frozen stuck with the handler. The heat of the room just screamed to him, 'End of the struggle buddy, welcome home.' Auggie ran to the couch and jumped on it, soaking the sofa with melting snow, "Mom, this is awesome here !"

Topanga sat next to him, "I know auggie," she said, "too bad we're so far from the ski station. Cory, how are we supposed to go there everyday when you can't even drive up a snowy upgrade ?" she asked. Maya chuckled when she saw the look on Cory's face a clumsy smile shaded with a slight embarrassment. He had so much struggle driving up to the chalet that he decided to park at a hundred feet from it, and they all had to walk up a hill with their heavy luggages and their boots disappearing in the snow. Gee, it wasn't some random hill, oh no. It was a very smart and viscious one, who wouldn't tell which part of it was slippery and which part would swallow you into a freezing snow hole. And with the luggages, it was like telling a blind-folded man to dance on an ice-skating rink, which caused Shawn to fall approximately three hundred fifty times. Delightful.

Fortunately for him, Riley decided to come to his rescue, "It's alright mom, we can still go when it stops snowing. Instead of skiing, we could do something else. Like decorate this place for Christmas." Auggie cheered, jumping up and down, "Yeah ! I want a huuuuge Christmas tree in the middle of the room ! Like, reaching the ceiling, or higher !" Topanga smiled at her son's enthousiasm. She took Auggie in her arms, still stuffed in his winter jacket, and kissed his forehead, "Whatever you want," she whispered, "gee, you're freezing ! How about a hot chocolate for everyone?" Soon, everyone cheered. "Yeah, chocolate ! I like that," Shawn shrieked, "Can I have one with some marshmallows in it ? Melted, oh yes melted is so yummy, like a white cloud of love over a brown godly sea ?" He pleaded like a little child, his hands put together.

"No," Katy said.

"What ?", the glimpse of joy in Shawn's eyes was replaced with the gleam of his tears, "but why ?" He looked at Katy with a miserable face, like a toddler you've shown a candy to, and then put it on the upper shelf of the kitchen with a 'no, no, you can't have it'. Katy gave him a machiavellian smile, "because, Auggie said he wanted a tree. You guys go cut one." Cory stared at her with outrage, "Cut a tree ? Have you seen the weather, woman ?" Katy didn't say a word, she just eyed Shawn for a few seconds. The kind of look no man can deal with. She watched him put back his gloves on, and swaddle himself in his chapka. And with a sight, he simply said "Alright, Cory. Let's go."

The two friends went out and back in the struggle. While Katy and Topanga unpacked, Riley, Maya and Auggie decided to visit the house. It was a gigantic place, however they weren't the only one to dwell in it the chalet was separated into two parts, and they rented the left part of it. In the right side lived another family, but they hadn't had the chance to meet yet. The living-room and the kitchen were downstairs. The kids entered the kitchen, it was quite tiny compared to the house, but also very comfy. The large windows exposed them to a beautiful view of the mountains, with the lovely picture of the sunset they could certainly see in the evening. Auggie opened every single cupboard, just by curiousity. "Why are the windows opened ?" he asked, because indeed, the bay windows were open, allowing snow to rest on the kitchen floor. The light blue curtain was waving with the freezing wind blowing. "To freshen up the air, I guess," Maya answered. "We'll close them after our tour, don't worry," Riley added. It was very clean and well tidied, aside from one curtain being fallen onto the floor. But it was an old house afterall, things like that happened.

They moved their tour upstairs. They went up the wooden spiral staircase. Maya noticed the steps were quite high and one far from the other. But it was authentic, and she loved that. Upstairs, there were the bedrooms and the bathrooms. "I want that room ! Riley, you take that bed, I'll take that one," Maya stated. Her friend shook her head, "I told you I wanted to sleep near the window. You take that one." Maya refused, "No-uh. I told you I can't stand sleeping next to the door. Freaks me out." Topanga entered the room on their argument, "Katy will sleep here. Issue settled."

The girls sighed. The tour continued. And the snow kept on falling.

Meanwhile, after an half-hour of driving, Cory and Shawn arrived on the fringe of the thick forest. They parked under a gigantic pine-tree covered with a bright layer of powdery snow. After the struggle Shawn had gone through simply to open his car door, they were finally able to get out. Cory grabbed the axes and shovels from the trunk, but before he knew, his butt was sliding on the slippery hill. Another viscious hill. How convenient. Shawn helped him back up, and they head forward with the purpose to find a decent, cute but not too small tree to bring back home.

They observed the scenery in awe. It was kind of shitty being in the cold instead of being sipping a hot chocolate in front of the fireplace, but the view was worth the pain. The white trees, scattered with dark green sparkles here and there, were surrounding a vivid lake, reflecting the sun beams. The water was completely frozen on the edges, but for some reason, it seemed that the water was still liquid on the middle. 'We should come back sometimes.' Cory thought. It was a nice and peaceful spot. But the weather was just too aggressive that day.

The two men walked carefully, already betrayed twice by the unpredictable path they were on. Shawn stopped and pointed a tree, "What about that one ?". Cory pictured it in the living-room. "Too small."

"And that one ?"

"...Too big."

"Are you kidding me ? They're exactly the same height.

"I was talking size, not height."

Shawn sighed. They kept on walking. Slowly, snowflakes stopped dropping, allowing a better vision to both the two men. Shawn pointed another tree. "I'll guess that'll do." If he were to speak with honesty, he'll reckon that really, all of the trees just looked the same, and that the ones that looked the best were way aback in the dark places of the wood. And nobody wants to go in the dark places of the wood. While Shawn started digging the snow around the trunk of the tree, Cory contemplated it. Again, he pictured it in the living-room. He went around it and imagined it being decorated. He thought about how he's never done those type of things before. 'Ah, Chistmas, Christmas, Christmas... When you got us.' He got stuck wondering about how his son will decorate the tree. He took a big breath of the coarse scent. It smelled like old tea. Or maybe raw tabacco. Or something else.

Shawn grabbed an axe and hit the tree. In a way so clever that all the snow fell on top of its head. "Cory, what are you doing back there? I kind of need you to help, you know. I've probably lost three of my fingers by now."

The smell grew stronger. He felt like it came from another tree, a little further in the forest. He took a few step back. After a moment, it didn't smell like tea anymore. Or tabacco.

In fact, it stank.

And then he saw where it came from. Well, not 'then'. First, he saw the blood on the tree. The second after, he saw the bloodbath soaking the white soil. And then, and only then, the second after, he saw the animal lying between it. And finally, the smell made sense ; carnage. It smelled like carnage. And the peaceful Christmas picture set in his mind to disappear.

And the way the secret bruise unveiled causes more pain then the one hidden, the slight stink turned into an umbearable pestilence, harsh and stronger than death, and nausea grew inside him in a blink. Maybe if he hadn't feel so ill-at-ease, he would have noticed the eyes staring at him with rage.

Shawn came to see what was up with his friend. Though he didn't need much explanation when he saw the dead deer lying on the ground. "Holy shit, that's disgusting." Cory turned around, about to puke out his guts, when something caught Shawn's attention. Unlike Cory, he did notice the eyes staring at them in the dark.

The thing with the hidden bruise, is that, unfortunately, it always comes with an hidden threat.

"Cory ! Watch out !" he screamed, but it was too late. In no time, the beast jumped and attacked. Keen fangs found their way into Shawn wrist (that's why he will later thank God he had put on his thick gloves and winter coat long sleeves). Cory stood their in shock, full of terror. Without thinking, he rushed back to the tree they were cutting to grab an axe. He ran back to his screaming friend and knocked the axe on the animal's head. The beast let go. Cory cringed. Because he realised instead of grabbing an axe, he actually took a shovel.

"Shawn what are you doing, get up !"

The wolf growled. Cory quickly regretted his actions, if only he had knocked it out... They started running. It's funny how when you see someone being chased, running and treading water in cartoons. But only until _you_ are that character, and it _actually_ happens to you when you're running for your life. They stumbled and slipped on the snow, but even when they were down, they kept going forward, because they knew what was behind them. On his way, Cory grabbed an axe -and this time, not a shovel- and quickly shot a glance to the wolf.

It wouldn't have been so scary if it didn't look like it was smiling. Wrinkled eyes, creased nose, and teeth keener then death's scythe. Looks like a smile alright.

They finally reached Shawn's truck, an old Jeep that, unlike Cory's car, had enough room for a Christmas tree. For a second, he thought of Auggie reaction when Shawn and him were going to come home without a tree to decorate. "What are you waiting for ?" Shawn asked in a rush, "Close the door !". Cory apologized a quickly slammed the door shut. Finally, they were safe. Both out of breath, they tried to calm down a bit. Shawn stare down at his wrist. It wasn't hurting that much, but he was afraid to take off his gloves and actually see the damages. Cory noticed his concern, "Hey, you alright ?" he asked, frowning. "I think so," Shawn replied, "but we better get going before-"

The wolf jumped in the trunk. Shawn immediately started the engine and drove crazy. It was a great struggle to drive that fast down those snowy hills, but the wolf wouldn't fall. The motherfucker just wouldn't fall. Even after all the crazy turn they took. The wolf started hitting the back window with his paws.

"Bitch won't move. What do we do, Cory ? What do we do !" There was no way they were bringing this monster back home. An idea poped into Cory's skull. He grabbed the axe. He started rolling his window down. Shawn froze, "Dammit, Cory ? What are you doing ?"

'Honestly I don't even know myself'

He got almost half his body out the window and the cold wind smacked him in the face. He swung the axe randomly around him, like a crazy drunk man who's on the verge of losing his mind. The wolf seemed a bit insane too, with an odd smiley-like face on. Shawn lost his temper, his stress level up to over a hundred, and his forehead soaked with nervous sweat. "Cory, just hit it ! HIT IT !"

A hit is thrown. The axe reaches its eye. The wolf falls in a painful cry.

Cory watched the animal he's harmed fall down the trunk while its blood flowed down its cheek. The red, hot liquid came again to stain the snow. While the car drove away, the animal stayed down. The shock slowly replaced the pain, and the red veil covering is sight turned into a black void.

The Jeep arrived near the cabin. The two men hurried inside as the snow started to fall again. Auggie jumped at the sound of the jinggling keys. He ran furiously to the door to see what he thought would be the 'most gigantic Christmas tree in the entire world !' "Daddy ! Uncle Shawn !" he shouted, but something was wrong. His uncle Shawn had messy hair and a weird face on, and his Dadd had red droplets on his face and jacket and a very repulsive thing in his hands.

"Oh my God !" Topanga screamed when she saw them on the doorstep, looking miserable as hell, "what happened, where did you-" She froze when her eyes met the gleaming blood rolling down the axe in her husband's hands. She gave him a grave look. Cory didn't like that. What was she thinking, that they murdered somebody on their way to get something to decorate their house with ?

Katy came down the stairs, followed by Maya and Riley. "Shawn, what happened ? What's going on ?" Maya ignored the constant attention her mother gave Shawn, as she was starting to feel very concerned herself. She knew that when a kid did something bad, he was punished, but overall he was quickly forgiven. However, when an adult does something bad, generally it means they're in deep, deep shit. And judging by the red stains on Cory's coat, they _were_ in deep shit. Maya looked at her best friend. Riley didn't budge. She was wearing her blank face. That face could mean two things ; one, that she didn't understand what was going on, or two, that she was going to faint. Maya held her hand, just to show her her support. Riley looked at her. And it scared Maya to death, because there was nothing. No sorrow, no sadness, no concern, or anger, or fear. Nothing.

It was the blood. It could be alright if it were only on his face, but on the axe ? That was worthy of a true horror movie. But how could she be moved this way ? There was certainly a good reason for this... bloody... massacre.

Topanga tried to calm everything down, because Katy was beginning to freak out, Cory wasn't even able to move anymore, Auggie was crying his eyes and screaming his father was a murderer, and Maya was on the verge of crying because Riley was on the verge of collapsing down the ground. "Please everybody ! You need to stop screaming ! Everybody on the couch, sit down and shut the hell up !" she screamed her lungs out. They went quiet, but nobody calmed down. Maya helped Riley up, since she was sitting down a step. They all sat down the couch, and Topanga took Auggie in her arms. Every eyes were stuck on Cory and Shawn. Aside from Auggie's, "Mommy I don't want to see Daddy if he has blood on his face..." he whispered. The room fell in a very unconfortable atmosphere. Nobody really desired to talk first.

Katy got up, "Cory, um. I'm going to get a rag or something... so you can clean your face," she stuttered. She headed to the kitchen. Topanga cleared her throat, but Maya spoke first ; "Mr. Matthews, what's going on ? You look crazy and Riley's about to pass out ! What did you do -did you kill somebody ?!"

Topanga shot her a death stare, "Maya !"

"Are you insane !" Shawn shouted, "do you really think were murderers, what's wrong with you ? Come on !"

"Then explain !" Topanga demanded.

He sighed, and noticing the look of Riley on her father, he slowly took the axe of his hands and put it down. "We went down to the forest to get Auggie the best tree to decorate," Shawn shot Auggie a quick smile to see if it comforted him, but he didn't respond, "but then a wolf attacked us. He bit my wrist, but Cory helped me and we managed to get away. But the wolf followed us back to the car, so we needed something to get rid of it..." he said while his eyes rolled down to the axe.

"Did you kill it ?" Maya asked, in some sort of awe.

A little noise emerged from the kitchen, quickly forgotten.

Topanga interrupted, "Wait a second right here. A wolf ? Don't you think if there were wolves in this wood you would have been aware of it ? This is nonsense."

"Topanga please, you need to believe me !" Shawn pleaded.

"... I do. I believe you..."

They all watched Katy come back from the kitchen. Walking backwards. Slowly.

"Guys..." she shivered slightly, "there's a wolf in the kitch'n..." her voice lowered, overcome with fear.

For, it wouldn't have been so bad if Riley didn't forget to close the windows.

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 **Thanks for reading if you've been this far ! Also I would like to apologize in advance because of the mistakes I might have made : English isn't my first language so I sometimes make outraging mistakes that could seem a bit ridiculous. Regarding the story, I thought it could be interesting to bring Maya and Riley's families together, but this mean there isn't any main character. Finally, I do know that in reality, wolves are probably not that dangerous to mankind, but this aspect of the situation will also appear in the story during the following chapters. Thanks for reading, again !**

 **Lucy full of looooooooooove !**


	2. Chapter 2

**WARNING : THIS STORY CONTAINS VIOLENT THEMES AND COARSE LANGUAGE. DO NOT READ IF YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TOO SENSITIVE.**

 **DISCLAIMER : I don't own nor the characters, neither the canon of the story (only the twisted stuff** **you can read is mine xp)**

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Chapter 2 . Mind the doors

Katy looked down at her bleeding calf. Her white socks, now turning a lovely wine red, was soaking the blood like a sponge would, until it's so full that its pores would start spitting back the liquid. She folded it down a bit, and saw the purple marks on her legs. The wolf had bitten deep. Deep, deep, deep. Deeper than what she felt when it bit her. Though she didn't remembered that much of how everything started. Everything happened not even ten minutes before, yet she only recalled a few blurry scenes, which were playing over and over in head. Foreward and backward, like with a good old video recorder. As if she could roll back in time, go back to when she saw the open kitchen window and the big ass dog tearing off the second lone blue curtain from the left bay window and then turning back to her and then oh shit well too bad I'm screwed.

Mainly she remembered sounds. A loud cacophony mixing screams with growls, footsteps with thumps on the wooden floor. Cries, perhaps ? Probably, given the circumstances. "Katy ! Run ! Run !" She hesitated between running towards the door entrance or try to leave by the kitchen windows, still wide open. But if she could get out, what would happen ? Would the animal chase her ? Or maybe she could reach the car, but then what ? She didn't have no key. Shawn grabbed her wrist and pull her back. She quickly shot a glance at the staircase ; Maya was dragging a dizzy Riley upstairs. Immediatly, she made a quick calculation in her head : _how long before this son-of-a-bitch-wolf reaches my daughter ?_ A gruesome picture crossed her mind when the sad but honest answer came to her. _Ten. Maybe fifteen seconds._

They all made their way to the room upstairs, which could appear as a silly idea since it was no issue, if not a trap. But they had no other choice, the wolf was here, then there ; the wolf was everywhere. Topanga dashed upstairs with Auggie in her arms, and grabbed Maya's arm on the way. Weirdly, she seemed to be handling the situation in a more serene way then anybody else. Cory was desperately trying to get his axe back, just to swing it in the little bastard's head. In vain.

It seem like the wolf was enjoying the situation. It would bounce on the sofa and growl a bit, then jump down and tour in the room. Carefully, the animal made sure to disable any access to the outside world, with a very strange, but quite clever method : with its teeth and paws, the wolf wisely put one curtain down the bay windows and the other one near the doorstep. Everytime anybody stepped on the curtains to get out of this soon-to-be nuthouse, the wolf would pull the cloth with his fangs and drag the person on it along. Soon, it became a dead zone, and the sound of heads hitting the ground in loud stump became part of the scenery. So, indeed, going upstairs was not the most brilliant idea, but it sounded better then being toyed with by a 170 pound nightmare.

Katy was the last one in the stairs. The wolf, would had been quite a gentle doggy until then, decided it was time to step into the game. In the blink of an eye, it jumped over the couch and up in the air, and came to grab her leg between its teeth. And while all the others were already in the bedroom, she saw herself being dragged down the steps. A keen shriek resonated into the house, almost as keen as the pain which came with the wolf's fangs, and Maya felt her heart stop for a second. Her mother was out there. And while she didn't think a wolf would appear as a such a threat on normal standards, she knew the rule wasn't, for whatever reason, applying to that situation. She rushed to the door, her mind blanked by the horrible sound she had just heard -because she knew that if she were actually _thinking_ , she wouldn't go because she would be paralysed by fear- and came across Topanga, who stopped her in her race. "You can't go !" Topanga commanded. She looked at her with an outraged expression. 'But my mother is out there !' she wanted to reply. And she tried to go past her, because she was fierce, and careless, and fearless... but she knew her 5"2' tiny self couldn't help, as much as she hated it. She knew that if she got out, she would have as much grasp of the situation as a blind person trying to figure out what the colour red looks like. She knew she was **useless**.

"Don't worry, Maya, I'll get your mom !" Shawn said, and ran out the room.

The moment he stepped outside, he knew that from then on, nothing could get better. He saw Katy was desperately trying to rid herself of the wolf's canines. She held tight to the banister rail, while the animal was pulling on her leg. It was so painful she prayed to God it wouldn't rip her foot apart, but paradoxically she also wished the wolf would tear it and finally let go of her. She could already picture her foot in its maw, gushing blood everywhere. That thought made her leg hurt even more ; she screamed in pain and closed her eyes. Somehow, not seeing it made the pain a bit more bearable. Not enough to make her stop screaming, but a little. Kind of like when she feigned to not see the bills pilling up in the mailbox : she knew it was here, but avoiding it made her feel like she was in control. Slowly, her sweaty palms slid across the ramp, and she felt her body going down the steps again. Shawn ran down the stairs, swung his leg and shot a kick in the wolf's muzzle.

Bad idea. Terrible idea.

The grip on her calf grew even tighter. 'AS IF it could be worse', she thought ironically. She let go of the ramp, hopelessly. In a last attempt, Shawn gave an other kick, but this time aiming at the eye.

And finally, the wolf let go.

It felt like God was in the room. At last.

Shawn took Katy bridal style (unfortunately, not for the occasion she expected) and ran back up to the room. The door was slightly ajar, and Shawn could see Maya's eyes peeking through. He could guess the fear painting her face white, and the tears washing it down. "Open the door !" he shouted. And so they did. Shawn pushed away Maya when he entered. "Quick, shut it !" he ordered. The last thing everybody wanted, is to see there last escape being narrowed down again, this time to the corner of the room, or the freaking balcony.

But the worst worsened again. As the door was about to be shut, the wolf stuck his muzzle through the frame, its teeth greeting everybody with a large, heartwarming smile. Topanga gasped. She pushed the door harder, and Cory joined to help her, and Maya, and Riley. Together, they were able to shut it down, but it didn't stop the wolf from banging on the the door. There wasn't any door lock, but they had to find a way to secure things a bit more. Topanga looked for a hint, sweeping her eyes across the room, then yelled, "The cupboard ! Cory, you need to drag it here to block the door !" she said in a hurry, but still with an honorable sense of self-control. Cory let go of the door to get the cupboard. Suddenly, the banging felt a lot harder. Shawn helped Cory carry the piece of furniture and they blocked the door with it.

Everybody took a step back.

And Katy looked down on her bleeding calf. Shawn had put her down on one of the beds in the room, already arboring a bright stain on its green blanket. Maya ran to her to see the damages. "You alright ?" she asked in a shaky voice. But just by the look on her face she could tell she was not. Her tears were still flowing, but she had her brave face on. Though she didn't dare even glancing on her mother's wound, because it was certainly going to bring a sharp brain around her heart area. She grabbed her mother's hand, trying to ignore the blood on it. Topanga came and sit on the edge of the bed. Maya glared at her. She was still a bit offended by her making her rescue attempt a vain and naive frivolity. She looked at Katy's injury. Maya could swear she saw her grimacing. But Topanga try to remain as neutral as possible, to reassure the kids, probably.

"Is she gonna be okay ?" Riley asked.

"I don't know, Riley," Topanga looked at Maya, knowing that she should be extremely careful with the words she was about to use, "... it doesn't look so good. I'm no doctor but... this looks like it must be taken care of right away. Cory, call an ambulance. Also if you could tell them there's a wolf in our living-room, you'd be a sweetheart."

"I don't have my cell-phone." he replied.

Shawn added, "Me neither, it's downstairs in the pockets of my coat."

She looked around and realized she saw the same expression on every faces. Of course, Riley and Maya didn't have their phones, it was in their room. So was Topanga's. All of a sudden, she didn't feel so much in control anymore. It made her nauseaous.

"I have mine," said Katy, between two cries, "it's in my purse."

Topanga sighed, in relief. She almost broke a smile, actually. Shawn grabbed Katy's handbag and looked for her mobile. If the situation wasn't so bad, Riley would have laughed at the redondant aspect of the scene ; it reminded her of how they hurried Shawn to look through Katy's purse at Maya's birthday. Such good memories succeeded to calm her a little bit.

"Here," he said has he handed Cory the phone, "I don't know how fast they can intervene, though..."

He looked at the windows. The snow was pouring again and he could hear the wind whistle. He didn't dare saying it but deep inside him he thought, 'what if they arrive to late ?' Katy was loosing a lot of blood, and it didn't seem to be slowing down. Cory dialed 911, and waited.

"911, what is your emergency ?"

Riley watched her father prattling out all the story to the phone. She was holding Auggie in her arms. She kept saying 'it's okay', 'shhhhh, it's okay', but she knew it was not. Plus, her tears didn't help.

"Sir, we're sending an ambulance right away. Could you tell me how bad is the injury ?" the woman one the phone asked in a very calming tone.

" _Very_ bad. Why ?"

"In all honesty, your location doesn't simplify the intervention, sir. A storm is threatening to blanken the area, and as you know the blizzard will make it harder for the ambulance to arrive."

"Can't you send a helicopter, or something ?" he asked, "she's really bleeding a lot."

"Not in those conditions, sir," the lady with the soothing voice answered, "but don't worry ; an ambulance is on its way. Aswell as the Animal Control Center. Meanwhile, I'm going to stay tuned and give you all the advices you need."

"How long before the ambulance arrives ?"

"I don't know, sir. You mustn't worry-

"HOW LONG ?"

The woman paused for a while, then repeated : "I don't know, sir."

Cory sighed. He looked at Katy, with a sorry look. As if she was doomed and nobody could do anything about it. He frowned at the sight of the red stain under her calf. It finally calmed down a bit though, because Shawn had tight his belt around her calf.

"...ster ? Are you still there ?" the woman called on the phone.

Cory sighed again, "Yes. I'm still there."

"You need to apply a tourniquet to-"

"We've done that already."

"Good, normally she's not gonna keep bleeding that much. Now you must be very careful and look for all the abnormal things happening to the injured. It might be a sign that the animal that bit her was infected with some disease, it could be very dangerous if it had passed it on to her. Symptoms such as fevers, swelling of the wounded area, pale skin-"

Cory cut her roughly, "What if she's pale because she's bleeding _**to death**_ ?"

The d-word made everybody jolt. Even Cory himself was shocked he had actually said that. It was burning is throat a bit, though.

"No sir, I don't think so. Do not crowd yourself with negative thoughts. Please can I talk to the injured person ?"

He shook his head, clearing his head from every gruesome images he had on his mind, "'f course." He handed the phone to the blond-haired woman, and her hand communicated a bold shiver to Cory's. He let go in a flash, feeling his fingers being almost electrocuted. For a second, he thought he could feel her pain which had travelled from her body all the way through his. He soon crossed the odd thought off is mind, already shaken by the two strange encounters he had had today. The fresh memories were still neatly displayed in front of his unconscious self ; the storm and the wolf, then the axe in the eye ; the wolf and the kick, then the storm coming back. It was like a bizzare, reversed pattern, interwining ironically the cold stinging blizzard with the apparition of the hot-blooded animal.

He had never being so scared in his life. Sure, he could remember that time when he fell into a llama habitat ***** during a school field trip, proving again how bad is level of clumsiness was. There again, Shawn was there to give him a hand, and helped him get out of this ultimate jam (thought not the last one... obviously). But there, it was different : there were no claws, no fangs (!), and no creepy smile coming straight from a slightly twisted and very gory horror movie. It was a situation anybody was laughing about a couple of years later. In no way he could compare this ludicrous scene to the one he's been confronted with only an hour before. Additionally, the wolf was curently threading candidly in the living-room – or wherever else in the house, really ; who knew ? - and visiting the place while the mother of his daughter's best friend was watching her leg slowly bleeding out, waiting patiently for somebody to come and _do something_. But thinking this way wasn't getting him anywhere.

'Ramblings. Too much ramblings.'

He could actually hear the dull sounds of paws on the parquet floor.

'Is he actually wandering in the house ?' he asked himself. Then he thought of the wolf patroling in front of the bedroom door, on the lookout for every other soul who would even **dare** steping if _only_ one toe out of the room. It freaked him out.

He looked down and caught his daughter's frightenend stare. She was sitting on the floor, stroking her little brother's brown curls. He came to her and sat next to her, feeling a bit ashamed ; for all this time, he had let her and his son alone. When they needed him more then ever, he was else where, mostly zooming out. In a way, he was kind of avoiding her (but NEVER he would have admitted it to himself), afraid of how sensitive she was, and how hard it would be for her deal with the situation and for him to help her cope. Riley was never one to moderate her emotions. She was unpredictable and easily overwhelmed, that was no secret. But this time when he saw her... when he saw her dried tears on her cheeks, her over-protective look covering Auggie with a true determination, Riley didn't appear the same anymore. She wasn't crying anymore. She wasn't shaking anymore. At that moment, she was over with all that. Fear would no longer bring her down. And that thanks to only one thing ; she was commited to make her little brother stop crying. That was all that mattered, that he was safe. So she took him, and held him, and she knew that if she cried, he would cry too. So she ceased crying. 'It's all gonna be okay', she'd whispered. 'It's all gonna be okay.'

She watched her father as he sat down near by her. She suddenly felt a bit warmer.

'Everything had started out so great...' she thought, while a haze of sadness envelopped her mind. Everything was going great, indeed, until her father and uncle came home. Maya, Auggie and her had wandered in the house, opening every doors of every room and every cupboard they came upon. They inspected every corners of the chalet and observed every speck of dust the were to see. Auggie was looking for the best hidding spots, because he was planning on forcing Riley and Maya to play hide-and-seek with him. He was aware that both girls were a bit too old for those kind of games, but who could resist an adorable 6 year old shedding waterfull of tears and a wise 'pleeeeaaaase Riley, you'we my _favowite_ sister !' ? Obviously, not Riley. So Auggie kept looking for the sneakiest spot -the one where from which you could see anybody passing by, but nobody passing by could see you in. His height was convenient too, because he could fit places nobody else could. That made him happy. However he couldn't find any spot sneaky enough.

 _ **Until**_ he came in that one room.

It was the room Topanga had choosen to sleep in, with Cory. It was smaller then the other bedrooms, perhaps even the smallest, but it was cosy and she liked it. It was the second room from the right, and it didn't have any balcony, unlike Katy's (the one everybody had found shelter in at the very moment) but the windows were still very huge and offered a mesmerizing view of the pine forest downhill. It had basic wooden furniture, a beautiful full-lenght mirror in its right wall, and a large bed in the middle. Auggie found the room cute, but there weren't any fun places to hide in. He got bored of this little visit. He leaned against the mirror and grimaced. Maybe he could hide into one of the hundred kabillion cupboards in this house. Unoriginal, but eh, still something.

He heard a little _click_.

He stood back up, and noticed the mirror was pushed in. Out of curiousity, he gave another little push to the door, and it opened wide in an acute creak. His eyeballs almost buldged out of his face. He felt like a pirate finding a forgotten treasure out of pure luck. For a second, he was Perceval and, yet drowned in a terrible period of darkness and doubts, he had found the Holy Grail ! Without even looking for it !

"Girls ! Look, I found a secret door !"

They both looked at him, intrigued, and their jaws dropped down. Maya rushed to his side to take a closer look to the secret passage. She frowned, "It only opens on my mom's room. It's stupid, why would anybody put a door here in the first place ? It doesn't lead nowhere special..." she said.

"Don't be such a kill-joy, Maya," Riley replied, "that's awesome ! Maybe that means that there are other secret doors hidding somewhere in the house !"

Auggie squeaked at the idea. Honestly, everything was becoming to amazing to handle. A secret door. Maybe several secret doors ? That was too cool to be ignored. Finally, Riley closed it, and told him "Don't tell no one else. That will be our little secret, and it shall remain between us three forever, okay ?" she said solemnly.

"Okay."

...

The words resonated in his head. Auggie got his head up his sister's lap and looked at the mirror. It looked exactly like the one in Topanga's room. Because it _was_ the same one, actually. One push and they were in Topanga's room. One push.

He closed his eyes. Because, in the back of his head, he knew that this door, if 'tickled' by a certain doggy, would lead to a lot of trouble. It could be two things : one, a new **way out** for them. Two, a new **way in** for the wolf.

* * *

 *** True fact (I think so...)**

 **Please don't think I'm obsessed with hurting animals ! I'm not BTW, but by the way the story is going, I know I can only seem like a twisted-minded freak... u.u**

 **But anyway, I decided to not give up on one of my creations for once so, voilà. I don't know if it's worth it though. I think this story will only be about five chapters long, and by the size of the chapters you can tell how short it's gonna be. But it just my first fanfiction so please be kind and have mercy, I know the plot is weird, but have mercy T^T And hey, "unleash your imagination", right ?**

 **Thanks for reading,**

 **Lucy full of loooooooooooooove !**


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